Montana Forms -- Public Notice and Certification Page

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Here are the individual public notification page and certification pages extracted from the Montana DEQ stationary source permit application forms 6/2011.
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Coal Combustion Residue (CCR) Regulation Status Update

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These outlines were made available as part of an audio presentation through Law Seminars that Grant and I participated in. A few highlights of the presentation:

• It is fairly certain that EPA will not issue a final rule this year. There is speculation that a final rule won't be released before next year's elections and EPA is considering requesting further public input.
• The House Energy and Commerce Committee is currently considering a bill that would short circuit EPA's efforts, prohibit any rule listing CCR as hazardous waste, and allow states to regulate the material. Here's a recent news article about the bill. 
• There is a great deal of pressure for legislative intervention because the power and CCR industries don't feel a hazardous designation would be at all workable, because the pervasive and apparently unending uncertainty is causing significant problems with planning for current and future disposition of CCR, and because the utilities are faced with an onslaught of new environmental regulations that could result in requirements for large capital expenditures.
• One of the presenters noted that those pushing for hazardous regulation are largely environmental groups opposed to coal-fired power and industries that compete with CCR for its various beneficial uses. On the other hand -- according to him -- there is overwhelming opposition to a hazardous waste determination.
• It was noted that the technical disposal requirements between the two options (RCRA Subtitle C, hazardous, or D, nonhazardous) are slight. The main reason EPA favors the Subtitle C option is that they would be responsible for enforcement rather than the states--not the case for the Subtitle D option and current regulation.

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NDDH O&G Air Permitting Guidance

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North Dakota Department of Health (NDDH) May 2011 final oil and gas permitting and compliance guidance including emission inventory spreadsheets that all operators must use:

• Memo
• Guidance document
• Emissions calculation spreadsheet

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Clean Air Act NEPA Exclusion

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Federal actions with respect to the Clean Air Act are exempt from NEPA review based on this statute:

US Code Title 15‚ CHAPTER 16C (Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination)
§793. Protection of public health and environment
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(c) Major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment
(1) No action taken under the Clean Air Act [42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.] shall be deemed a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 [42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.].

Reference provided to Kevin from Dana Allen, NEPA coordinator at EPA R8, 303-312-6870)
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Indian Country Minor and Non-Attainment NSR

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June 13, 2011 - EPA finalized a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) to ensure that Clean Air Act permitting requirements are applied consistently to facilities in Indian country.

Find the final rule and fact sheet here.

Update 7/21/11---

EPA distributed this PowerPoint presentation they plan to follow for a 8/2/11 webinar on the new rule. I briefly reviewed it and observed the following:

• BACT is required.

• The timeline for a synthetic minor permit is 60 days for a completeness determination plus one year to issue the permit.
• Timeline for a true minor source seeking a general permit: 45 day completeness review; permit "90 days after date coverage request is submitted."
• General permits "not allowed for synthetic minor sources."
• Leaves a lot of discretion regarding modeling demonstrations. They plan to develop guidelines.
• 18 months to commence construction.
• 30-day appeal period; permit stayed upon appeal.
• Pollutant-specific deminimis emission levels.
• Existing synthetic minor sources (minor relying on the Transition Policy) must submit an application by 8/30/2012.

• Violations enforceable by EPA in Federal court.

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Modeling Fugitive Particulate from Surface Coal Mines

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The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments included Section 234, inserted by then-Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson, requiring EPA to "analyze the accuracy" of modeling analyses designed to predict impacts to short-term particulate NAAQS from surface coal mine fugitive emissions. The section also requires EPA to "make revisions as may be necessary to eliminate any significant over-prediction of air quality effect of fugitive particulate emissions from such sources." It provides that, until EPA complies, "the State may use alternative empirical based modeling approaches pursuant to guidelines issued by the Administrator." In May 2011, McVehil-Monnett Associates released this draft white paper assessing EPA's compliance with the requirement (which included a 3-year deadline) and the current state of fugitive particulate modeling.

This statement in a 1996 memo from EPA to Senator Simpson appears to be the final word on the matter:

"Since the model still appears to overpredict the impacts of surface coal mines, the Agency does not plan to use it for regulatory applications involving these sources. As a consequence, the regulatory procedures currently in place will remain in effect. These procedures are contained in the January 24, 1994 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between EPA Region VIII and the State (copy enclosed) and were summarized in the Federal Register on September 12, 1995 (60 FR 47290). The MOA allows the State to conduct monitoring in lieu of short term modeling for assessing coal mining-related impacts in the Powder River Basin. We believe that these procedures provide adequate protection for the environment and are also acceptable to the stakeholders. At this time, we and the various stakeholders believe that the interim procedures work well, and therefore we do not currently plan any further analyses. If in the future EPA is able to correct the model’s tendency to overpredict as described above, it may, of course, review these regulatory procedures."

The author also points out that the Wyoming Supreme Court issued a ruling in March of this year stating, in part, that EPA still has not remedied the situation addressed by the Simpson amendment.

Wyoming has a specific Memorandum of Agreement with EPA regarding modeling (or not) of surface coal mine fugitive PM. Their agreement relies heavily on an approved monitoring network and valid data and on requiring Best Available Work Practices (BAWPs). They also had to work through PSD increment issues, although it appears that the rather creative fixes no longer apply and any further work to address the issue is at a standstill.
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Annotated Appendix W Modeling Guideline

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I've started annotating, bookmarking, and linking this copy of the current Guideline on Air Quality Models (Appendix W, 2005). I used Foxit, which has some very nice annotation features. I think you can view the mark-ups and notes and use the bookmarks and links when reading with Adobe, but you may want to download Foxit (the basic version is free) if you're going to be adding to the annotations--which I would highly encourage if you're studying the document for something in particular.

(Unfortunately, clicking the link here or where the document is stored in the Bison SharePoint site only opens the document within the browser. This seems to provide limited Foxit annotation functionality. You may have to download a copy of the document, save the revised version to your computer with the same name, and re-upload to SharePoint--overwriting the existing version.)
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North Dakota Modeling Policy for Compressor Engines & Glycol Dehy Units

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Clarifies "when dispersion modeling is required for be submitted for facilities which include compressor engine(s) and/or glycol dehydration unit(s) as the primary source(s) of emissions." Applies to criteria and air toxics emissions. Also provides "procedure to follow when "further review" of emissions is required..."

May 16, 2011 NDDH Memo
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